


Rocks beside the Road

by dreamofroses



Category: Tuck Everlasting - Natalie Babbitt
Genre: Angst, Broken Promises, F/M, Immortality, Modern Era, Winnie Drank from the Spring, Years Later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-18 20:13:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28872870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamofroses/pseuds/dreamofroses
Summary: Winnie was going to listen to Tuck. Really, she was, but when faced with the early death of a cousin, she made a decision to save both their lives. In any case, Jesse would be back for her soon and she was certain the caring Tucks wouldn't turn away her cousin. But Jesse never came back. More than a century passed and Winnie and her cousin learned how to get by on their own. Now Jesse's back in Treegap and Winnie's kind of freaking out.
Relationships: Winnie Foster/Jesse Tuck
Kudos: 10





	Rocks beside the Road

It was about two hours past lunch rush when Winnie saw him. He was young, in his twenties or so, and handsome enough that she noticed him walk in. The diner was pretty dead, so the sign by the door said:

  
WELCOME  
PLEASE   
SEAT   
YOURSELF

  
And he did—right in the middle of her section. 

Normally, she would have thought, _score!_ because the patrons of the diner tended to gravitate toward Amy’s section and she couldn’t blame them because most of them knew Amy, had known Amy since she was a little girl, and as far as they were concerned Winnie was just some tumbleweed that had blown into town with her cousin a couple of months back. 

And yet there was something about this man that put her off. Maybe it was the way he walked or the way he had the sort of face that reminded her of someone but she wasn’t quite sure who. There wasn’t anything threatening in is mannerisms and her instincts weren’t telling her that he was dangerous. All the same, she found herself reluctant to leave the safety of the kitchen.

She put on her waitress face as she approached the table. “Hi! Welcome to Lou’s Diner,” she chirped.

He looked up at her over the menu. His eyes locked on her face and remained there for a little too long.

“My name’s Freddie,” Winnie continued. “I’ll be taking care of you today. The special is the pulled pork sandwich and the soup of the day is chicken rice. Can I start you off with something to drink?”

The man blinked and shook his head, but not at her exactly, more like at something he was thinking. “Just a water,” he said. “I’m waiting for my brother.”

“OK.” Winnie put her notepad back in her many pocketed apron and went to the kitchen to get the glass of water.

“So?” Amy asked when she arrived.

“What?”

“Is he just passing through or is he gonna stay a bit?”

“What does it matter?” Winnie asked.

“I was just thinking the two of you looked kinda cute together,” Amy answered.

Winnie pointedly said nothing.

“You can’t stay single forever, you know.”

“Bet,” Winnie said.

“I don’t know, Ame,” Lou, the fatherly cook and owner of the diner, said. “He looks a little too old for Freddie.”

Winnie took the water and left the kitchen. 

“Just let me know if you need anything else while you wait,” she said as she set the glass down in front of the man. 

“Thank you,” the man said and Winnie went back to the kitchen. 

The food was ready for the table of old men who came out for lunch almost every day to complain about their health and reminisce about the old days together. There were six of them, so Winnie helped Amy carry the plates out. 

As she passed the man waiting for his brother, she was struck again by the sense of familiarity. He was probably just somebody’s great-grandson—or great-great-grandson by now—but it bothered her that she couldn’t place a finger on who, like she was going senile or something.

She would tell Eliza about it when she got home and her cousin would sniff and say, “Well, it has been more than a hundred years. You can’t remember everyone.” Just the thought of it put a smile on

Winnie’s face. Eliza thought she was so down to earth. 

She was almost back to the kitchen when she heard the jingle of the bells fastened above the door signal the entrance of a new guest and she turned to see who it was. He was younger than the first man, in his late teens or very early twenties, and a little lighter in coloring than his brother, but the family resemblance was quite strong. 

Winnie filled a glass of water for the younger brother and started for the table where they were talking to each other.

“And? Did you go in?” the older brother asked.

“No.” The younger brother was staring deeply into the pattern on the table. “I couldn’t. I don’t think I’m ready.”

“Are you telling me that you dragged me all the way out here for nothing, Jesse Tuck?”

The water slipped out of Winnie’s hand.

“Jesus, Freddie!” Amy said, just barely having missed the splash zone.

“Language,” Lou scolded.

“I’m sorry,” Winnie said and went back to the kitchen for the mop.

“You look pale,” Lou remarked. “Are you all right?”

“No,” Winnie choked. “I just… Suddenly…”

Lou grimaced. “Why don’t you take the rest of the day off?”

“Are you sure?” Winnie asked, glancing at Amy who was picking up the larger shards of glass.

“We’ll make it work,” Lou assured her. “I’ll call Jenna, see if she can come in. It’ll be fine. Go.”

Winnie hesitated a moment longer, then abandoned the mop and went to the nook where she stored her purse during work. She slung it over her shoulder and left through the back door. Her phone was in her hand before the door clicked shut behind her. 

She called Eliza and pressed the phone to her ear as she crossed the tiny parking lot behind the diner. She unlocked her aging sedan and pulled open the driver’s door so hard it bounced on its hinges. She slid into the seat, put the key in the ignition, and tossed her purse on the passenger’s seat before she shut her door. All the while, her phone rang. 

Finally, Eliza’s voicemail kicked in. Winnie fell back into the headrest of her seat and sighed. “Call me as soon as you get this,” she said. “We’ve got a problem. A serious problem. I’ll be at home.”

She hung up and dropped her phone on top of her purse. 

She turned the key in the ignition and the car sputtered to life. Frank Sinatra’s voice lilted through the speakers. Winnie scowled and turned off the radio. She drove home in silence.

“Home” was a modest establishment, in keeping with the story that a twenty-four-year-old hairdresser and her eighteen-year-old cousin who waitressed at the local diner could afford to live there. “Inheritance from a relative” covered what incredulity was left. Thankfully, Treegap had never developed into any sort of metropolis. Instead, it had evolved into a dull sort of small town with surprisingly affordable housing.

Winnie went straight to her room when she arrived and began emptying her closet into piles of “keep” and “donate”. She was ruthlessly efficient and had finished with the project by the time Eliza called.

“What happened?” Eliza demanded without so much as a “hello.” “Who saw what?”

“What?” Winnie asked.

“We were exposed,” Eliza said. “Who saw what?”

“What? No,” Winnie said. “We weren’t exposed. The Tucks are in town.”

“What?” It was Eliza’s turn to be confused.

“I saw Miles and Jesse Tuck at the diner,” Winnie clarified.

“How is that a ‘serious problem?’” she asked.

Winnie stopped and considered. “I should be dead,” she said. “There’s a gravestone in the cemetery with my name on it. I should have listened to Tuck. I was going to, you know, before you came to Treegap, just abandon it all, find a nice husband and settle down. I can’t face him now that I haven’t. He’ll be so disappointed.” She was quiet a moment. “And don’t I have a right to be angry at Jesse? He promised to come back for me, and he never did.”

“One might say he’s come back now,” Eliza said.

“A hundred years too late!” Winnie snapped. She groaned and flopped back on the bed.

“And now you’re going to let him and his family drive you out of your home?” Eliza asked. “We have meticulously scheduled our returns to this town for decades, to watch over the spring they abandoned. We just got settled. I refuse to uproot our lives because of them.”

“Six immortals in one town,” Winnie said. “Don’t you think we’re tempting fate?”

“We were here first,” Eliza said. “You can go if you want, but I’m staying right here.”


End file.
